On Sunday, February 4, 2018 4:45 PM, randy oliver <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 

 >
> > If I assume the hives are not spread equally, but rather occupy
> effectively only 50% of the
>  available forage area I still have 75 acres per hive.


Excellent point Dick!  Dick's response is the sort of discussion that I
hope for--doing a bit of homework, and taking time to analyze and do the
math.

That said, 75 acres per hive may sound like a lot, North Dakota today has
about 91 acres total per hive during summer, so if one divides by 2, that's
perhaps 45 decent forage acres per hive these days.  I'm hearing lots of
beekeepers complaining about lack of forage in North Dakota these days.

In North Dakota in 1946, there were only a total of 55 acres in the state
per *reported *colony of bees.  this theory is a bit misleading,  and easy to document,  look at the yearly honey totals over he same time period for the state of ND.  I haven't looked recently and am working off the phone,  but last time I check  state wide numbers disputed the theory of reduced forage.Dock,  don't forget to reduce that a bit more for feral hives which have always been there also.  not sure what number to assign them but they would be a factor.   one needs to be careful in the assumption there is less hay and clovers,  I would bet nationwide the numbers are actually higher,  and when you add the tonnage for things like Canola and almonds, and citrus,  the numbers from monocrops is huge.As back to hay,  its true,  not everybody has 40 acres for the cows anymore,  but areas like alfalfa mills in OH have 40K acres in a 3 county area,   it has been taken out of rotation for nitrogen fixation,  but CRP has replaced that in many areas.Charles


   

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html